Brokers are more clued up about the impact of geopolitical and economic events on the mortgage market and predicting how lenders might react, it was said at a conference.
Speaking on a panel debate at Mortgage Solutions’ The Buy to Let Event, Emily Hollands, group head of distribution at OSB Group, said volatility seemed to be constant in the market, adding there were “very little periods of calm”.
She said the mortgage market had dealt with one crisis or another in the last few years, and lenders had got smarter about how products were priced.
“It’s more of a holistic view, it’s not a day-by-day view… it’s, ‘let’s have a think about this and the longevity’,” she said.
Hollands added that there were more lenders who stayed in the market this time around, compared to other periods of uncertainty.
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Wiser brokers
Hollands added that “brokers are a lot wiser about what’s happening in the market”, saying: “Five years ago, it was a shock when lenders started pulling their rates… I know that’s still happening and I know that it’s not been easy for you. But I also think that brokers in general have got a lot better at predicting what lenders are going to do.
“Rather than waiting for a lender to act, you’ve gone straight in and said, ‘let’s get these cases [done], let’s not wait for lenders to pull the products’.”
Steve Cox, chief commercial officer at Fleet Mortgages, agreed with Hollands, saying the intermediary community had become “brilliantly aware” of swap rates, and when they went up, the lender saw an increase in business, “which was you guys anticipating the next move”.
He said he did not see as much of this after the mini Budget, but it was good, as it meant brokers and lenders were working in tune with each other.
David Whittaker, CEO of Keystone Finance, said things were changing quickly and swap rates had already shifted that morning, leaving lenders with the choice of either pricing to “the roof” or close to the market and dealing with the ups and downs of their decision.
He said there was an advantage to the chaos that brokers could benefit from by supporting clients.
Whittaker said the issue with making multiple product changes was compounded by the capabilities of sourcing systems, as not all were able to update ranges immediately and some took as long as three working days to reflect changes.